A general election for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly was held on Saturday, 15 October 2016. The 15-year incumbent Labor Party, led by

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Andrew Barr, won a fifth term over the main opposition Liberal Party, led by opposition leader

Jeremy Hanson Jeremy David Hanson, CSC, MLA (born 18 February 1967) is a former Australian Army officer and is an Australian politician with the Liberal Party, elected to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly as one of seven MLAs for the Mol ...

. On election night, ABC analyst

Antony Green Antony John Green (born 2 March 1960) is an Australian psephologist and commentator. He is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's chief election analyst. Early years and background Born in Warrington, Lancashire, in northern England, Gr ...

predicted that Labor would once again form a minority government with the support of the Greens, with Liberal leader Hanson saying in a speech it would be very difficult for the Liberals to win government. On 22 October, the final list of elected candidates was confirmed; the Labor Party winning 12 seats, the Liberal Party 11 seats and the

Greens Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

2 seats. Labor and the Greens subsequently signed off on a formal Parliamentary Agreement, which outlined shared policy priorities and allowed Greens leader Shane Rattenbury to retain a seat in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

whilst mandating that the Greens not move or support any

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in the Labor Government, except in instances of gross misconduct or corruption. Prior to this election, candidates were elected to fill all 17 Legislative Assembly seats in the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

parliament which consisted of three multi-member electorates, Brindabella (five seats), Ginninderra (five seats) and Molonglo (seven seats), using a

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

method known as the Hare-Clark system. On 5 August 2014, the Assembly voted to increase the size of the Assembly to 25 members, elected from five electorates of five seats each. The Hare-Clark system continued. The election was conducted by the

ACT Electoral Commission The Australian Capital Territory Electoral Commission, branded Elections ACT, is the agency of the Government of the Australian Capital Territory with responsibility for the conduct of elections and referendums for the unicameral ACT Legislative ...

. Of the 25 elected members, 13 were women, representing the first female parliamentary majority in Australian history.

Results

Primary vote by electorate

Final distribution of seats

Key dates

*Last day to lodge applications for party register: 30 June 2016 *Party registration closed: 8 September 2016 *Pre-election period commenced and nominations opened: 9 September 2016 * Rolls close: 16 September 2016 *Nominations close: 21 September 2016 *Nominations declared and ballot paper order determined: 22 September 2016 *Pre-poll voting commences: 27 September 2016 *Polling day: 15 October 2016 *Last day for receipt of postal votes: 21 October 2016

Background

The incumbent Labor Party led by

Andrew Barr attempted to win re-election for a fifth term in the

ACT Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly) is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic ...

. Labor, led by Katy Gallagher, formed a minority coalition government with the Greens after the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

, where Labor won 8 seats, Liberal 8 seats, Greens 1 seat. The Greens retained their balance of power in the election despite losing the majority of their 4-seat representation, with sole remaining representative Shane Rattenbury entering the cabinet to form a coalition government. Gallagher resigned as Chief Minister and Labor leader on 5 December 2014 to enter the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

in the vacancy left by Kate Lundy. She was replaced by her deputy Andrew Barr on 11 December 2014. The opposition, the Liberal Party, also had a change in leadership.

Zed Seselja Zdenko Matthew "Zed" Seselja (born 27 March 1977) is an Australian politician who was a Senator for the Australian Capital Territory from 2013 to 2022, representing the Liberal Party. He was the Minister for International Development and the ...

, the leader of the party since 2007, stood down on 11 February 2013, to challenge Liberal Party pre-selection for the Senate at the 2013 federal election. Seselja eventually won his pre-selection bid, and was elected Senator for the Australian Capital Territory at the federal election. He was replaced as leader of the Liberal Party by

. All members of the unicameral Assembly faced re-election, with members being elected by the Hare-Clark system of

. The Assembly was previously divided into three electorates: five-member Brindabella (including Tuggeranong and parts of the Woden Valley) and Ginninderra (including

Belconnen The District of Belconnen () is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), used in land administration. The district is subdivided into 27 divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. The district of Belconn ...

and suburbs) and seven-member Molonglo (including North Canberra, South Canberra,

Gungahlin The District of Gungahlin () is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory used in Lands administrative divisions of Australia#Australian Capital Territory, land administration. The Gungahlin Region is one of fas ...

Weston Creek The District of Weston Creek is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory used in land administration. The district is subdivided into divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. The district of Weston Creek lies ...

, and the remainder of the Woden Valley). These electorates, were redistributed following the increase in the size of the Assembly to 25 seats. At the end of May 2015, the following electorates were announced: * Brindabella – contains the district of Tuggeranong (except the suburb of Kambah). * Ginninderra – contains the district of

(except the suburbs of Evatt,

Giralang Giralang () is a suburb of the Belconnen district of Canberra, located within the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The suburb is named after the word in the language of the Wiradhuri Aboriginal tribe of the Central West of New Sout ...

, Kaleen,

McKellar McKellar is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Archibald McKellar (1816–1894), Canadian politician * Archie McKellar (1912–1940), Royal Air Force fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain * Colin McKellar (1903–1970), Aus ...

and

Lawson Lawson may refer to: Places Australia * Lawson, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Lawson, New South Wales, a town in the Blue Mountains Canada * Lawson, Saskatchewan * Lawson Island, Nunavut United States * Lawson, Arkansas ...

). * Kurrajong – contains the districts of Canberra Central and Majura * Murrumbidgee – contains the districts of the Woden Valley,

, Molonglo Valley and the Tuggeranong suburb of Kambah. * Yerrabi – contains the districts of

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

and the

suburbs of Evatt,

, Kaleen,

and

. Election dates are set in statute with four-year fixed terms, to be held on the third Saturday of October every four years.

Campaign

The opposition Liberal Party opposed the Light rail in Canberra project, so did the Like Canberra and Sustainable Australia. In April 2015, the Liberal party announced it would cancel any contracts for the light rail if it won the 2016 ACT election. A year out from the poll, the light rail project was already predicted to be the election's major issue. As predicted, the light rail project was the major issue of the campaign. The election saw the Labor government returned, with the party claiming the result as an endorsement of the project.

Candidates

Registered parties

Twelve parties were registered with the

as eligible for the October 2016 election, ten of which nominated candidates for the election. *

Animal Justice Party Animal Justice Party (AJP) is a political party in Australia founded in 2009. The party was registered by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on 3 May 2011. The party is also registered in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, ...

* Australian Labor Party (ACT Branch) * Australian Sex Party ACT * Canberra Community Voters * Liberal Democratic Party * Liberal Party * Like Canberra * Sustainable Australia (ACT) * The ACT Greens * The Community Alliance Party (ACT) * The Flux Party – ACT ''(did not contest)'' * VoteCanberra ''(did not contest)''

Retiring members

Labor

* Simon Corbell ( Molonglo)

Liberal

Val Jeffery Valentine Max Jeffery (6 December 1934 – 18 July 2017) was an Australian politician. Jeffery was elected to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly as a Liberal member for Brindabella on 28 July 2016, following a countback re ...

( Brindabella)

Newspaper endorsements

References

External links

Elections ACT: 2016 Legislative Assembly electionAustralian Broadcasting Corporation: ACT Election 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Capital Territory General Election, 2016 2016 elections in Australia Elections in the Australian Capital Territory October 2016 events in Australia 2010s in the Australian Capital Territory